Installation of siding is a very tedious task that requires precision. Standard practice of maintaining the recommended vertical and butt gap of one-eighth of an inch is to eyeball or guess the width of the gap or even manually measure the width of the gap. This standard practice of determining the width of the gap results in a large margin of human error and inconsistent results throughout the entire siding.
When eyeballing the position of a siding panel there is a high probability for the spacing between two siding panels to be different from one another. Even though the differences can be minimum between two siding panels, when an entire section is complete, the minimum differences between siding panels can have a considerable impact on the overall outlook.
Most siding panels need to be installed exactly according to the manufacturer's instructions. Failure to do so, can result in damaged siding panels. As an example, improper clearances from roof surfaces, decks, steps and other hard surfaces can result in damaging the siding panels. Therefore, the need for a quick and convenient method of measuring these distances is clearly evident.
Properly attaching siding panels is a vital part of the installation process. Failure to do so, can result in hindering the aesthetically pleasing appearance of the siding panel and also damaging the siding panel. As an example, angularly driven nails and overdriven nails are instances where the siding panel is damaged. On most instances, angularly driven nails are a result of attempting to maintain a constant overlap between two siding panels. The present invention is designed such that the user can continue the installation process while keeping the second siding panel stationary against the first siding panel.
The objective of the present invention is to address the aforementioned issues. In order to do so, the present invention introduces an apparatus that allows the user hold and align a siding panel at a preferred distance from the previously installed siding panel. By doing so, the siding panels can be installed such that equal spacing is maintained throughout the process.